1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for enabling a user to interactively manipulate data retained in a computer system, and a computer system for implementing the method. Moreover, the present invention relates to a multi-window display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In response to the improvement in the performance of computer systems, a number of graphical user interfaces (hereinafter referred to as "GUIs") have been proposed. Such GUI modes are capable of continuously moving, magnifying/reducing, or zooming in/out from data that is rendered in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional manner, e.g., maps and topographies. Such GUIs make it possible to refer to or edit data including locational information while referring to information concerning the vicinity of the spot of interest, and reduce the burden of perception effort needed by a user.
The following methods are mainly known as methods for interactively manipulating data retained in a computers system, regardless of whether the data is visualized or not:
(1) manipulating domain data by assigning domain data to GUI components, e.g., buttons, sliders, and scrollers, which are operated by a user;
(2) manipulating domain data by allowing a user to directly manipulate graphical objects that visualize domain data; and
(3) manipulating graphics by implicitly assigning graphical operations, e.g., moving, magnifying, reducing, etc. to input facilities of an input device so that a user can manipulate the graphics by operating the input device.
Among the above methods, (1) is the most common method which has been used over several years. In this method, the user manipulates the data in a computer system via GUI components. Methods (2) and (3) are used for graphically displaying data including locational information (e.g., a map) or visualizing data in some way.
However, according to the prior art for processing visualized graphics that are present in the same field as GUI components, the visualized graphics and the GUI components are usually treated as separate components even if they are dedicated to the same domain data. That is, the GUI components under the prior art are treated merely as a control panel for manipulating domain data or visualized graphics. Therefore, the GUI components are not magnified/reduced in response to continuous movement or magnification/reduction of the visual graphics under the prior art. At best, GUI components that are mingled with visualized graphics are either left in the same size or totally eliminated under the prior art.
In the case where there are too many GUI components to be displayed simultaneously, the prior art utilizes alternatives such as "menus" or the like in order to selectively display classified groups of GUI components. However, this technique reduces the operational efficiency because the user is often required to move the cursor to reselect a GUI component classified in another group. Especially if not well acquainted with the classification system of GUI components, the user may take a long time to display the desired GUI component.
Some prior art GUI techniques allow GUI components to change their sizes in accordance with predetermined magnification/reduction ratios. However, reducing the displayed size of a GUI component hinders the operation facility of the GUI component in some extreme cases. For example, if a slider is excessively reduced in size, it becomes very difficult to control the slider by using a mouse or the like.
On the other hand, a user may magnify or zoom into graphics when it is necessary to refer to or edit the more detailed data, and may reduce or zoom out from graphics when referring to or editing the more general data.
Moreover, when a user wishes to magnify a partial region of a given window using a conventional multi-window display device, the user is required to first activate a menu item such as "Move displayed region" to move the center of the displayed image to a desired position before activating a menu item such as "Magnification/Reduction" to change the magnification ratio, and so on. Therefore, even if a user simply wishes to generate a new window including a designated region within a displayed image, there is great difficulty in doing so.
A conventional device is known which allows a user to first designate a region to be magnified and then open a new window which includes the designated region, but this system still requires the user to select various menu items in order to open the new window, thereby increasing the operation complexity. Specifically, the user is required to use a mouse or the like to move an arrow in a display region 405a (FIG. 23) to a menu region (which is often located above the display region 405a) and locate the arrow A on a desired portion of a menu to select an item or icon, for example. This procedure requires the eyes of the user to temporarily avert from the displayed content, resulting in an interruption in the user's thought. Such an interruption in thought prevents smooth flow thereof because it requires the user's attention to be directed back and forth between different regions on the display.